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I have a new favourite Pokedex One-Shot, what a great way for the Pokemon community to bring in the New Year. "Feeling lucky, punk?” was perfectly fitting and gave me a good chuckle. I'd like to request a Swampert/Armaldo/Whiscash story because 3rd Gen has the least percentage covered.

I can't remember what your stance is on spelling mistakes but there were a couple of instances where could called it an "Electrabuzz" instead of an "Electabuzz:"

Plusle, Minun, Electrabuzz, and Magmortar

“I live here, so I don’t have to be all showy. I’m an Electrabuzz, by the way; call me Buzzard.

And up on the golden tower, Buzzard the Electrabuzz was hanging on by just two paws, searching the sky.

“Um,” the Electrabuzz jumped down onto the roof and peered over the edge.

I've not really been slacking; other projects are being very demanding of me. This entry was tricky too. These two Pokemon are quite different in terms of the 'dex entries, one being a tactical fighter with the other being a powerhouse. But then I wondered, what jobs would a good ninja take in times of peace and stability?

I could still use some suggestions, both for current entries and the fifth gen premier.

While the museum was dark, there were just enough security spotlights to navigate the building by. It helped that he had visited the place enough times to memorize the layout. He made his way through, sticking to the shadows. After all, it wouldn’t fit for him to get caught before his thieving career could really take off.

Sure, he had taken a few valuables here and there from peoples’ homes and he’d been going along well. But he liked drama. He would observe his victims beforehand, learning what items they help sentimentally valuable. When he went in for the steal, he always took those sentimental items, along with small valuable items that didn’t hold as much importance to the owner. The next day, he would return the sentimental items, either in a box on the victim’s porch or dropped off at a police station anonymously. That gave him the anguish he liked to see, but then kept the victims from pursuing his trail as intently.

That still wasn’t dramatic enough. He wanted to be able to take something in broad daylight, something major and public. However, that would take force, and a lot of it, to pull of a heist as dramatic as he wanted. He had a Pokemon partner, but it was just a Raticate, not powerful enough. And the Raticate wasn’t that good at stealthy jobs, as it liked to be noisy and pick fights. What he needed for his plans was a Pokemon strong enough and awesome enough that people would back off immediately. Or, a trio of such Pokemon.

And in this museum, there was something that could help him immensely: the Glory Flute. It was an antique artifact that was said to tame the three strongest and wildest bird Pokemon in Kanto, Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. While he figured he’d need to catch more than a single Raticate to ultimately capture those three, when he had the legendary birds, then everyone would be in awe of him. And he could able to get away with anything he wanted after that.

Getting the flute was his current challenge. And there it was, on a solitary table underneath one of those security spotlights. It rested on a blue velvet base, a white flute apparently carved from a single bone. Thin engravings filled with blue, yellow, or red dye wound all around it, making it a beautiful piece as well as powerful.

It was going to be protected too. The thief had found out about what securities they used. Against the spotlight, he was simply going to use a thin black piece of silk to disguise his face while still able to see his work. Against the pressure plates on the pedestal, the alarm tiles past the security chain, the automated cameras, he had already hacked into the security network and disarmed them (that only gave him an hour’s time frame to do the job). That left just some barely visible wires, like fishing line, that held down the flute itself.

And a fine layer of dust, he noticed as he came up to the pedestal. That struck him as odd, since this museum was active and immaculately tended to. He barely saw the dark particles, but they had a dull violet look on the soft blue of the velvet. Could this be another security measure, to acquire fingerprints easier? Nevertheless, he didn’t want to back out now. He started unwinding the wires from their hidden screws, with his black gloves keeping prints from being left even with the dust there.

The dust was stirred up by his activity and was soon tickling his nose. The thief paused, waiting for it to settle, then worked slower. But, if he was too slow, the securities would be turned back on and he’d have an alarm wailing in his ears. He got the first thread done, then the second. As he worked on the third, he hurried up some, only to stir the violet dust up again. This time, he sneezed.

There was a flutter of wings from nearby. Quickly, he undid the final thread, even though that made the dust irritate his nose even more. He grabbed the flute, then saw something at the edge of the security spotlight: a blank lavender mask, sharp in features but without any eyes. Spooked, the thief bolted, crashing into a metal post and sending it with its chain barrier onto the floor.

In this silent place, it was a massive noise, one that caused strips of lights to turn on along all edges of the walls. By that, he finally saw the eyes of the creature, below the ‘mask’. It had a thick furry body and large insect wings, all in various shades of violet. A Venomoth. Not much to worry about, as his Raticate could easily beat it. But that would give the guards enough time to get to him, probably with stronger Pokemon. The thief ran out of the room.

Okay, his previous escape route wouldn’t be as useful. Instead, he went to the end of the outer hall (which was nearby) and shoved open a fire escape door. That set off the fire alarm, but he didn’t care. It would cause panic and confusion, letting him slip away easier.

It should have let him get away. However, that Venomoth was soon out with him, flying after him. It dove at his head, causing him to stumble as he tried to scare it off with his arms. But he hadn’t realized how huge one would seem when it was attacking his head, filling his vision with pale violet wings. Sneezing again, the thief felt his nose and throat start to tingle. That tingle turned into a mild burning, which threw him into a coughing fit. But all that did was worsen the pain.

Was he getting sick? He grabbed some mud from an earlier rainfall and threw it at the Bug Pokemon. That caused it to squeal, wildly shaking its head to get rid of the muck. From its wings, a large quantity of violet dust fell off. This Pokemon must have coated the Flute’s display for some reason. Not caring to know why, the thief got up and kept running.

As the pain in his nose and throat got worse, he considered getting to a pharmacy and getting something for a sore throat. Maybe even stealing it, although he disliked such petty shop-lifting (no drama whatsoever). Then there was a bestial roar from right next to him. Something near the ground came at him fast, but before he could jump it, it struck his lower legs hard enough to make him crash face first onto the hard ground. For a moment, all he was aware of was the smell of dirt and recently cut grass, as well as the burning pain inside and the new shock of pain all over.

Then he was kicked over roughly with a large foot. The thief looked up into the intimidating face of a Nidoking, dark violet with harsh black eyes and large pointed horns. How in the world had he missed this Pokemon coming at him? The beast then snatched him up roughly with its coarse paws. It pulled him close to its body, latching onto his legs with its tail, holding his torso securely with one arm, and placing its other paw lightly against his head. Now smelling the sweat of this creature, the thief was terrified. He tried to escape, or move in any fashion, but the Nidoking did not let him.

“If you squirm too much, it could get you poisoned even worse,” a woman’s voice said. “Drop the flute.”

The thief tried to look for the speaker, but could hardly see anything past the Nidoking. And it seemed strong enough to crush his head without adjusting its hold. “Fine, but you wouldn’t have caught me if it wasn’t for your Nidoking,” he grumbled, dropping the flute. He would have to find some other way to a rare and impressively powerful Pokemon… when he escaped from jail, of course.

“No, he just made things go faster,” she replied. “Do you remember the dust on the Flute’s display area? That was from Venomoth’s scales. And you feel sick now, don’t you? With a burning nose and throat, maybe even in your lungs. Before long, things will start to swell, especially in your nose, making you breathe through your mouth. But that isn’t it. No, because then the poison would enter your bloodstream, spreading the pain throughout your body. You would be in utter agony, and it would have been quickened by the fact that you were running. You’re going to spend days with that poison in your body. That is, unless you take the antidote. I have one with me, but then you’re going to have to tell me exactly how you got into the museum and deactivated the alarms. I could catch thieves with her alone; I’m just generous in giving you a chance to avoid the worst of the pain.”

“I’m not one to reveal my methods,” he said defiantly. He prided himself on his thieving abilities and wasn’t about to share his secrets.

“Fine, if you want to stay poisoned. Nido, move your hand please.” When the Pokemon did, the thief briefly saw her face. But then she blew a pile of pale violet dust at his face, causing him to sneeze hard. “And those scales are going to make sure that you don’t get away before the police come. Let’s bring him inside.” She turned and walked back to the museum.

The Nidoking loosened his hold on the thief slightly to follow after his master. By the time they got inside, the thief found that his limbs felt heavy and sluggish. He wasn’t getting away now, and the pain was indeed starting to spread. But he wasn’t going to ruin his pride just because of some pain.

He hoped he wouldn’t.

…

Nidoking Soul Silver entry: Its tail is thick and powerful. If it binds an enemy, it can render the victim helpless quite easily.

Venomoth Soul Silver entry: The powder on its wings is poisonous if it is dark in hue. If it is light in hue, it causes paralysis.

Last edited by Ysavvryl; 28th January 2011 at 1:34 AM.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

I am so neglectful of this. DX Well, that and my power cord broke, but that's hardly an excuse. Or is it?

Anyway. I really like how you got into the thief's head, showing us how much burglary is serious business and how he's in this for the lolz and so on. Not to mention that he wasn't part of Team Rocket, those guys are everywhere ...

With a burning noise and throat, maybe even in your lungs.

Burning noise should so be part of Victini's signature move is probably supposed to be burning nose.

I shall attempt to review more frequently, and in the meantime, keep it up! ^_^

(Oh, and ninjas take on all jobs, all the time. We just don't notice.)

It flew beneath the seas, its colored membrane wings sending bright warnings of danger. Its rough rocky armor looked tough to break through, even through the wiles of water. Showing no fear, the predator swam in the open, watching schools of small fish for a straggler soon-to-be meal. It was an alien not just to this shore, but to this time; nothing like it existed in the memories of the native Pokemon. And when it got to the sandy shore, it did not hesitate to put down its thick legs and raise up its strong body to walk straight out of the ocean. This beast, the Armaldo, could strike fear into those who saw it for the first time.

If they spent any longer with this creature, they would find out that she wasn’t quite so threatening. Buzzing her wings briefly to shake the water droplets off, Armaldo glanced around the beach. She saw a few familiar Pokemon, sunning themselves under a clear blue sky. There weren’t any humans about. “Hoooo,” she sighed softly. She was supposed to belong to a human, but he had left her here and had not come back yet. Sometimes, she thought of going to look for him.

But for now, she would wait. That, and build a sand castle. It was something she’d wanted to do for a while now. She curled her body downward and began scooping wet sand into a pile. It would be nice if she had one of those shaped buckets that made the turret top so nice, but there were none of those around.

Before long, the surf had crept up and washed over her sand pile as she tried sculpting it. The salt water pushed the pile over, smoothing it out. “Kizzz zibitta zrabbit!” she squealed in the tone of one who was cursing. “Feh.” She scuttled further up the beach. The yellow-tan sand was drier there, and harder to form. But the tides wouldn’t be demolishing her castle so soon.

Armaldo spent a little while gathering a pile of sand again, then went back to the wet stuff to help compact the dry into a better form. It took more work, but as bricks of sand started taking shape, she was pleased with herself. She hummed and kept at her work, blithely ignoring the other Pokemon at the beach.

That is, until one forced her to pay attention. She must not have meant it that way, but the ringleader of the beach Pokemon, both on the sands and in the shallows, burst out of the ocean at high speed. Swampert shot out like a jet, leaping far above the wet sand and landing right next to Armaldo’s line of sand bricks. Much of the piled up dry sand tumbled over, while a few of the bricks cracked.

“Eeee!” Armaldo squealed. Then she glared at the large blue amphibian. “Sccrrii zii bashu zzrribbitt!”

“Oh, sorry Miss Armaldo,” Swampert replied, bowing her head. She might have had authority over the rest, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t kind. “I’m in a bit of a hurry to take care of things with my nest.” She looked over the structure Armaldo had made thus far. It was two lines of bricks almost at a ninety degree angle from each other, with four rows piled on top of each other currently. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your project.”

“Curzat,” Armaldo replied in a huff, then began sweeping the dry sand back into a pile.

I really wish I knew what she was saying, Swampert thought again. Relaxing her fins, she hoped that the strange Pokemon understood her. “I don’t think this is a good time to be building things of sand. The ocean is troubled and tense. Something bad could happen. You may wish to move further inland to be safe.”

But Armaldo was already focused on her sand castle again, scuttling down to the wet stuff to gather material to fix up the cracks. Swampert sighed. Hoping that her odd neighbor didn’t get too badly hurt in what was to come, she dropped down on all fours and hurried along for more supplies. She had a couple of eggs to watch over, after all, and her priority was keeping them safe.

The ancient alien kept on working through the day, slowly building up walls. She didn’t know how to put windows or doors in like the humans could, so she contented herself with two walls to decorate in a castle-type manner later on. As time went on, other beach Pokemon started leaving, seeking out holes for shelter or going inland towards the swamp, looking for rock outcroppings to get on. They tried to warn Armaldo too, but she cooed at them happily, or squabbled, or just plain ignored them. Swampert came back, rolling a large rock through the sand and into the ocean. While she warned others away that weren’t feeling it, she still couldn’t get through to Armaldo.

Then, there was a thumping felt in the ground. Armaldo tensed, watching over her sand brick walls and worrying about cracks. When they lessened, she turned to see a large blue fish from the swamp flopping over the ground. As Whiscash flipped his body about in curves, he forced himself to move forward despite not having true legs. He weighed so much and was so powerful that his movements caused tremors in the ground. And he ruled the swamp areas like Swampert ruled the beach.

But his tremors could have knocked down her sand castle walls. Armaldo hissed at him. “Gochibai zang!” She moved closer to the walls, holding a foreleg up to them protectively.

Whiscash pushed himself closer despite how the sand was sticking to the mucus he used to keep his scales properly wet. “Here you are, Armaldo,” he said. “You know, I don’t have a clue about what you’re saying half the time, but you’re not that bad of a neighbor. You kill and eat those parasite fish in the swamp and share ripe berries you find. So, I decided that I had to come out and warn you that you need to come back with me and get to higher ground.”

She relaxed at his tone, as he didn’t seem to be threatening her structure. She leaned down and patted his head, as her mouth wasn’t made to smile well. Then she focused on getting another damp sand brick on top of the walls.

Lacking arms too, Whiscash lightly clamped on her fanned tail with his lips and tugged to keep her attention. He let go again when she looked back. “If you can understand me, then know that the earth is grinding and beginning to shake. Somewhere out to sea, it will release that tension in an earthquake, and then the ocean will respond with a tsunami. I’ll be all right when the earth moves and even when the water comes. But you are going to be in trouble if you remain here on the low sands. Armaldo, come back with me.”

She tilted her head at him curiously. Armaldo could tell that he felt serious about something. But, she couldn’t understand his words. She couldn’t understand any other Pokemon on this beach. It usually didn’t bother her, as she hadn’t been able to understand her human either. Why was he so serious, though?

Then, it struck. The ground trembled and shook stronger than anything Whiscash had been able to pound out. Trees shook back and forth while the water rippled violently. As it was just made of sand and a little water, Armaldo’s brick walls crumbled, collapsing into a pile of damp sand once more. It only took a few seconds, but it was so strong.

Armaldo drew her limbs in and hunkered down, shaken by the experience. Then she saw the state her sand castle walls were in. After staring at them wide-eyed for a moment, she wailed. After all the effort she had put into it, her castle was gone, just like that.

“This is not good,” Whiscash said, glancing about. “The center of that one wasn’t that far off. You may not have long enough to make it to higher ground.”

By him, Armaldo put her head down on the sand. She was rattled and a bit hurt after that quake, yes. But she was having such trouble with sand castles lately. She thought she might really get one accomplished today.

Then, Swampert emerged from the ocean again. The tides were receding at an odd time, leaving a large quantity of seaweed strewn about. “You’re still here?” she asked. Save for Armaldo and Whiscash, the beach was now vacant. She tensed at seeing her rival for the swamp-beach territory, but then wondered. “Have you been trying to get her away too?”

“Right,” he replied, trying to push his head higher off the ground by putting his fins down. “But we have no way to communicate with her. And, well, I can’t really make gestures to help.”

“She is a strange creature,” Swampert agreed. “Still, she’s a neighbor and I don’t want to see her suffer. I left one of my ‘kips to watch over my nest so nothing gets lost to the tsunami. But it’s going to come quickly, and it may even return.”

Looking over Armaldo, upset over her castle, Whiscash got an idea. “Hey, do you think we can build this pile into a sturdy enough sandbar for her to hide behind? She might understand it as a safe spot when the tsunami appears.”

“I don’t know how safe it will be,” she considered. “But, it’s better than nothing.” She went up to Armaldo and patted her rocky hide. “Come on, miss, we’ll work with you.”

Whiscash took a deep breath, then summoned some water to slap into the sand, causing it to turn muddy and splat onto the sand pile. Swampert had rolled large rocks around her underwater nest to protect it, but she was quite used to moving sand about to make a wave break. On seeing them building up her sand pile, Armaldo stopped crying. She cooed, then moved over to help pile sand up. it wasn’t as elegant a way of building as her brick method. However, it would get a big structure up quickly.

Then the water line receded quickly. The two modern Pokemon recognized this as a bad sign while Armaldo continued patting sand together to strengthen it. But when the water bulged in the distance, starting to build into an enormous wave, she finally recognized the danger. Had that been what these two were worried about? She ducked down and curled up by the sand pile, quivering. While she could swim underneath the water with no trouble, that amount of water rushing right at her would surely do some serious damage.

Whiscash flipped himself closer to the sand pile too, biting down on one of Armaldo’s armor plates to stay in place. On her other side, Swampert put an arm over Armaldo’s curled form, hoping that her bulk could take some of the blow for her odd neighbor. The monster wave built, and then roared right over them, blasting salt water all over the beach and the swamp. It was violent, trying to tear them from behind their sand pile in order to shove them along the ground. Much of the sand pile melted into the water, abrasively pouring over them. Whiscash nearly lost his grip, but they all managed to stay in place, even while the water pulled back nearly as hard as it had pushed forward.

Then, it was past. Debris littered the beach, including a battered wooden boat, a lot of seaweed, a lot of swamp weeds, and discarded shells. The sand pile they had hurriedly put together was half its former size. Still, it had been enough to direct much of the water away from the three Pokemon. Armaldo was still curled up, trembling.

Swampert stood up, looking to the ocean. “Wish we had more warning of these things, though.”

“The earthquake’s been a long time in coming,” Whiscash said, after letting go of Armaldo. “There might be more in coming days. The earth is still tense, but it has let some energy free.”

“Is that so? Thanks for telling me.” She looked down at their neighbor. “Will you look after her, then? Find some Pokemon that can get her to understand and keep her on high ground until things settle down. I’m fairly certain there will be another wave coming, but you should have time.”

He flopped in the sand. “All right. I wish I knew why she’s like this, though.”

Swampert dropped down, nudging Armaldo with her nose. “It’s okay for now, but you’ve got to move. Whiscash, I think I know what the deal with her is. I’ve heard from some of the young ones that the humans can bring ancient Pokemon back to life. I think she’s one of them, originally born in a time before we developed a language for common use. That’s why she shows intelligence, yet is not nearly as developed as the rest of us Pokemon.”

“They can do that, really?” He looked over at Armaldo, cautiously uncurling. “Still, makes it extra tough for one to be released where they don’t belong. Even when, if that’s the case with her. I’ll look after her, but you’ll have to gesture her to follow.”

Nodding, Swampert did her best to reassure Armaldo and point her into following Whiscash further inland. Although overwhelmed, she got the point and now was fine with going along with their suggestions. She would have to leave her sand castle building for another time, when things were safer.

And thus an alliance between the river delta swamp Pokemon and the sandy seashore Pokemon began, all because of a strange ancient alien in their midst.

…

Emerald entry: Armaldo usually lives on land. However, when it hunts for prey, it dives beneath the ocean. It swims around using its two large wings.

Swampert Emerald entry: If it senses the approach of a storm and a tidal wave, it protects its seaside nest by piling up boulders. It swims as fast as a jet ski.

Whiscash Pearl entry: As a result of causing tremors by thrashing about, it developed the ability to foretell real quakes.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

^It came out like a crack fic and includes Hitmontop! I can't even blame sugar on this one. It just happened. So no taking this story serious. Although that may be obvious from the first paragraph.

Also, now that B&W is about a month away from coming to America, I will soon be setting up a poll for which two to write about first. Check my profile (same username) at fanfiction.net for the poll itself. And since I only got four nominations here, none of which were seconded, I picked out six others to round out the poll. My choices:

Gamageroge: According to a potential leak, it's English name could be Seismitoad. Yes, that was my primary draw to it.
Bachuru: It's an electric tick!
Hitomoshi: Yes it's a candle. But it's cool in that way.
Woobat/Koromori: I already like Zubat and then this cuter bat shows up...
Kojondo: Looks cool to me.
Iwaparesu: This one strikes me as a high possibility for being unpopular due to design, which makes me like the sand crab.

So please go over and vote for who you want to appear. The top two will be used first. Or, make requests of the first four gens as my list is short...

Once upon a time, there was a small boy named Ash Ketchem. His mother said that she named him after a famous human character in a popular cartoon show (although she would never share the fanfics she wrote of that cartoon). However, the Ash that is the hero of this story was actually a Tyrogue, not a human. And he never felt that the name was fitting of him. So when he came of age, he went to the local courthouse to change his name to Ash Kicksbutt and left town to seek his fortune.

Ash Kicksbutt the Tyrogue wasn’t quite sure what his fortune would be. He was a little humanlike Pokemon with purple skin and red shell armor in the form of boxers and sneakers. Whatever it was, he knew he had to get strong fast in order to claim it. So as he traveled along the road, he punched and kicked things on the way to keep in shape. He hit boulders, pebbles, trees, bushes, leaves, signs, other Pokemon, bridges, light posts, buildings, cars, trucks, trains, planes (never mind how he reached them), fences, statues, caves, books, and even pillows. For good measure, he tipped over some sleeping Tauros and Miltanks, because they put up a good fight when enraged.

One day, he spotted a large round mass of flesh at the side of the road, all yellow-tan and dark blue. “Excellent,” he said to himself, “a Snorlax to challenge!” So he ran over and punched the massive Pokemon. But it was peculiar. Instead of hitting a mass of blubber and skin, he found himself hitting a mass of muscle and skin. This was no Snorlax.

The Hariyama got up in response, dusting off the armor flaps around his waist with its large hands. Bright orange bands had been tied around his arms and decorated the tan flaps. Stranger than that, he wore a bright and flashy mask over his face, a fierce dark blue visage with bright orange stripes. White feathers came off the sides of it and arched over the Hariyama’s head.

Then the large Pokemon looked down at him. “What are you waking me for?” he asked in a booming deep voice.

That didn’t intimidate the Tyrogue hero, even though he had to tilt his head back to look in his new opponent’s face. He stomped his foot down and punched his fist in the air. “I am Ash Kicksbutt and I’m on a journey to find my fortune! I’m challenging you to a fight.”

After a moment of just looking, the Hariyama laughed, shaking his belly. Then he stomped down with his foot, striking the ground hard enough to bounce Ash into the air. “El nińo, I am the great wrestler Sanchez Grande, Grand Champion of the ring five years running. I slam down foes bigger and more armored than myself on a regular basis. And you, little one, you wish to challenge me?”

“Of course,” Ash shouted, punching his fist into the air again.

“Hmph.” Sanchez brought one fist in to his chest, then knocked it to the side, striking a milk truck and sending it soaring; after landing, it tumbled down the road for another three hundred yards. “So be it then, el nińo Ash.” He then leapt into the air, aimed to come down right on top of Ash to squash him.

Ash scrambled out of the way, but still got knocked over by the force of Sanchez hitting the ground. One hit from this guy and he could be toast! No worse than that, a toasted cracker because he’d be so thin! But he had a plan and the danger of become squashed made it all the more exciting.

As he turned around, the masked Hariyama kept his stance low, so that he could punch the Tyrogue into the air, then get back up to a better stance to give an arm thrust that would knock the little one into a tree. But that didn’t happen. Instead, Ash darted forward, kicked his feet into Sanchez’ ankle, then rolled out of the way. This unbalanced the giant Pokemon, making him topple over and crash into the ground.

The Tyrogue then jumped on top of the Hariyama’s back. “Three… two…one… you’re out! I am the victor once more!” He then hopped off to beside his foe’s face.

Sanchez chuckled, then pushed himself back up. “Si, el nińo. You are a good deal trickier than you appear, and stronger. I do not know what fortune you may find, but I would like to call you amigo, if you will allow me to come along.”

While he didn’t know exactly what the Hariyama meant, Ash grinned and nodded. “Sure! You can help teach me to be stronger. Let’s go!” And so Sanchez Grande joined Ash Kicksbutt on his journey.

A few days later, the mighty pair were walking and fighting along their way when they came across an unusual building. It was made of stone, with a red roof, so it could have been hit as usual. But the sign hanging by the door named it a dojo. A second sign below it stated, ‘The Master of this dojo requests that any and all challengers come inside to fight and prove their worth.’

“That sounds like your kind of place, amigo,” Sanchez said.

“Right on!” Ash said, pumping his fist in the air. He then kicked in the door. “I am Ash Kicksbutt! I am off to find my fortune, but first I’m going to find your butt and kick it!”

“Believe you that is so?” a feminine voice called out from within the dojo. The building looked empty, a wide open space with bamboo mats on the floor and strange Asian scrolls on the wall. Then a Pokemon dropped down from the ceiling, a white and lithe Infernape that had a flow of red flames coming off the top of her head. Swiftly, she spun around to face him, dropping to sit in a lotus position.

“Yeah!” Ash said, not letting himself be intimidated by anything. “I don’t care if you’re a Master, I’m still gonna teach you some tricks.”

“That is the Master of this place?” Sanchez asked, a little skeptical.

“Right, that is,” the Infernape said. She brought her hands together and bowed her head. “Master of the Monkey Fist, Lotus Strike am I. In my domain, none has won in battle with me. Burn you, shall I.” She then flipped herself onto her hands, clapped her feet together, then sent a ring of flames whirling at them.

Ash darted out of the way while Sanchez simply braced himself for the hit. He was going to stay out of this fight, unless his friend lost. In the meantime, the Tyrogue soon found himself outmaneuvered by Lotus. She tumbled along, leapt to the ceiling to launch herself off the beams, rolled and kicked her legs out, all while bringing her fires to her fists and feet. It was a highly chaotic style that was nothing like Ash had ever seen before.

But, he might be able to take advantage of the complexity. After getting hit yet again by a flaming fist, Ash rushed at her with a simple tackle. Then he tried something Sanchez had been advising him to try out; focusing on all the injuries she had induced, he lashed out in a revenge strike while she was trying to regain her footing from the tackle. Lotus got thrown upside-down into a nearby rock wall, stunned.

Ash ran up to her. “Three… two… one… and you’re out! I win in your domain.”

All of a sudden, she flipped off the wall, vaulted over him, and landed behind Ash. “Perhaps,” Lotus said. “Perhaps not. Great talent, you possess. Never a student had I. Terrified them all away. Perhaps, travel with you do I, teach you do I, Master too you become. Say you what?”

“Uh…” he spent a moment unraveling her words, then beamed. “Sure! I could be a Master without you, but it would be faster with you. Well we don’t know where we’re going, but we’ll know when we get there, right? Let’s go!” And so Lotus Strike joined Ash Kicksbutt and Sanchez Grande on their journey.

A few days later, the trio were walking along the road, discussing how best to knock cars off it, when they came across an amazing sight. They had been leaving wrecks in their wake, true enough, but nothing like this. A pyramid of ten cars was sitting off the side of the road, all damaged and abandoned. What could have caused this wreckage? After looking about, they only saw one potential source: a brown and blue humanlike Pokemon that was sitting in the middle of the road, spinning about hypnotically on the tip of his pointed head. He had such grace and power to his kicks just to keep spinning that it enchanted both Sanchez and Lotus.

But the Tyrogue hero just grinned, seeing someone else to challenge. “Hail there, car wrecker!” he shouted, striking a pose. “I am Ash Kicksbutt, a fortune seeker and rising star among fighters. I’m in the top percentile of all Tyrogues, and you’re the next to be knocked on your bum!”

The Hitmontop sent out a wide leg thrust to counter his spinning motion. Remaining upside-down, he crossed his arms over his chest as he contemplated the challenge. “A little confident, are we?” he asked. “How precious. If you want to defeat me, Joe Elegante, you’d better have the skills to back up those words, cutie.”

Instead of leaping into the fight as usual, Ash widened his eyes. “Wait, you’re Joe Elegante?”

He snapped his fingers. “Yes. What of it?”

“That’s what my mom said was my dad’s name! You know of Casey the Ditto, right?”

“Miss Casey? How interesting.” Joe smirked, then made a cross slash with his arms, without tipping himself over. “Well then, son, are you ready to show off your stuff?”

Ash grinned widely. “Yeah! Let’s rock!” He rushed forward and tried to use his low kick attack to knock Joe off his point.

However, Joe swung himself around the attack and sent a whirlwind of punches and kicks at the Tyrogue. His spiked hands and feet were as tough as steel, it seemed, and his limbs were nimble. Ash found himself hard pressed to dodge the strikes, although it helped that Lotus had taught him how to move more like her. He dropped down and used his revenge technique to kick Joe upwards. Letting the motion of his kick flip him over, he then jumped up and punched his father in the head. The Hitmontop landed on his back, hard.

Ash then hopped onto his forehead, to make it harder for him to get up. “Three… two… one… you’re out! I beat you good and quick.”

He then got knocked onto the ground himself when Joe flipped himself back onto his point. “You’re a little quick to call the end of the battle too,” he commented. “But your moves are so refined, remarkable in power.”

“I got help from my friend and teacher there,” Ash said, looking back over to the other two. They had broken out of their awe by then.

“El nińo over there takes on any fight, no matter how much bigger and stronger the foe seems,” Sanchez said, pounding his chest with a fist. “Even me.”

“Cunning has he too,” Lotus said. “When raw power no good, weak spots seeks out he.”

“That is wonderful,” Joe said, smiling. “And to knock me off my tip, that is a feat that few can claim. I would be proud to claim you as my heritage. But, what are you doing?”

Ash shrugged. “Just going, for now,” he admitted. “I wanted to find my fortune, but I wasn’t sure where to start looking. So I started fighting while searching.”

“That’s in your blood. Hmmm…” Joe put his hand to his chin. “There is supposed to be a grand tournament coming up. It requires a team of four; I couldn’t find anyone willing to fight alongside my fabulous self, so I wasn’t going to bother. And then I heard that nearly everyone else has been sacred away from entering. It seems that a terrifying team has registered and no one wishes to go up against them. But that just really made me want to enter even more than before. Would you three be willing to enter the tournament if I were with you?”

“As the cherry blossoms always come in spring, so shall we to this tournament come,” Lotus added.

“Awesome, then let’s go!” And so Joe Elegante joined Ash Kicksbutt, Sanchez Grande, and Lotus Strike on their journey. But now they had a goal.

A week later, they were passing through the gate into a grand stadium to the excited roar of the crowd. The opponent team had bullied every possible opposition away so that it was only Team Kicksbutt that was willing to participate against them. Ash led the way proudly as the other three walked (or spun) in a line behind him. Before them was a large oval arena lined with dirt and edged by tall walls. Above those sat hundreds of spectators from all around the land. It included the powerful King and the young Princess, said to be one of the most beautiful Pokemon of the world.

Coming in the far entrance was the infamous Team Shade. In front, there was a lanky Alakazam, floating their way using only telekinesis. In a line behind him were his teammates: a long scaly Gyrados, a mysterious floating Bronzong, and a strange whirling Porygon-Z. But they didn’t scare Ash any.

The Alakazam twirled his silver spoons in his hands, looking unimpressed. “So, the only team of imbeciles that were foolish enough to come up against Shade is a bunch of nobodies lead by punk child? This is ridiculous. You ought to just give up now.”

“No way!” Ash said. “We ain’t nobody! We’re Team Kicksbutt! We have the monster wrestler from the south and ground-pounder extraordinaire, Sanchez Grande! We have the Master of the Monkey Fist and acrobatic fire-eater, Lotus Strike! We have the one-mon army, road block, and pyramid maker, Joe Elegante! And there’s me, the one who needs no introduction, Ash Kicksbutt! You are going down!”

The other team leader rolled his eyes. “Abuser of exclamation marks too? Very well. We are Team Shade, your worst nightmare. This is the end of the line for you; know this and despair.” He flicked his hand as if shooing a fly and the battle began.

Then, to the cheers of the packed stadium, something extraordinary happened. Lotus was on the other side first, making fiery attacks with every one of her limbs to the Bronzong. Once she struck hard enough, it vanished. Joe whirled himself over to the Porygon-Z, grabbed it with his feet, then somersaulted into the air and smashed it into the ground. As he landed on his tip, it vanished too. And when Sanchez snatched up the Gyrados’ tail and smacked it into the wall like a whip, it too disappeared.

“Yeah, show yourself, coward!” Ash challenged, jumping to kick the ‘leader’ of Team Shade in the head.

He sailed right through thin air and turned to see a mere Abra, sitting on the ground. The Abra turned his head, shrinking down. “Eep,” he said softly.

“And now you’ll learn why my name fits now!” the Tyrogue shouted. He then proceeded to punt the trickster Abra into the air. He teleported away before he hit the ground, to the jeers and laughter of the stadium crowd.

But then the noise died down as the King came up to the microphone. “Well done, Team Kicksbutt,” he said. “As a reward for winning the Grand Battle Tournament, you may have anything you ask for. What is it that you want?”

Ash turned to the King and crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you think we want?” he replied. “Reschedule the battle tournament so that we can really show off our stuff! That was a total waste of time.”

And thus a new tournament was called. Ash led his team to a proper victory. This time, he had them all knighted so that they could travel the lands and kick bad guy butt in the name of the kingdom. And they lived (and fought) happily ever after.

…

Tyrogue Soul Silver entry: Even though it is small, it can’t be ignored as it will slug any handy target without warning.

Hariyama FR/LG entry: It stomps on the ground to build power. It can send a 10-ton truck flying with a straight-arm punch.

Infernape Platinum entry: It uses unique fighting moves with fire on its hands and feet. It will take on any opponent.

Hitmontop Heart Gold entry: If you are enchanted by its smooth dance-like kicks, you may get a closer experience with one than you’d like.

Last edited by Ysavvryl; 1st February 2011 at 2:52 AM.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Okay! Anyhow, this story presented a challenge when I looked into the entries for the two Pokemon. They both live in vastly different environments, so it was hard to bring them together. I considered making the setting Siberia for a little while.

The trip had been long and difficult, passing through the warm seas. He didn’t like the warmth at all. Any time that the waters went over forty degrees Fahrenheit, he felt sluggish. There had been points where it had been close to eighty, with no relief in sight. But he kept on, swimming along the route given to him. It was easier now that this river had grown cold. Above him, there was a thin layer of ice. It was a good sign that his goal was near.

He was Arden, a mighty Dewgong and hero of the arctic seas. He had explored the deep depths and the high glaciers. If someone went missing, he was one of the first (if not the first) who went searching not matter where the Pokemon was thought to be. He had discovered many treasures, or recovered them from thieves. And this looked to be one of the great, if not the greatest, adventures of his life.

And to think that he hadn’t originally been the one asked to search.

Three months ago, a thief broke into an ice palace made to honor Articuno. He could have taken a great many treasures, but only took one: the Everlastice. There were rare treasures known as Nevermeltice that enhanced the powers of Ice, but they were found by adventures willing to go deep in icy dungeons. Only one Everlastice had ever been discovered.

He had helped catch the thief, a Sableye who didn’t seem right in the head (what with all the giggling it did). While the Sableye did admit to stealing the Everlastice, he said that it had already passed out of his paws, headed south. After locking the Sableye up in a prison of ice, the best of the local explorers gathered to decide what to do about the missing treasure.

Arden had remained behind, patrolling the ice palace in case of more trouble. A good friend of his, a Wailord, had gone south to investigate the matter. Her kind traveled between the tropical belt and the arctic belt already, so she was used to it. However, the leads she got led her to the mouth of this river, which she could not navigate. Not knowing who to trust there, she came back north and asked a Huntail to travel up the river. He had gotten up to this point and then was stuck. The Everlastice seemed to be on land, where the Huntail could not go.

And so, it fell to the Dewgong to come this far south and retrieve the stolen treasure. The presence of ice in the river was proof that the artifact was around. He was going downriver at the moment. Earlier, he had encountered the edge of the ice layer. The Huntail had said that he searched all over the riverbed, but found nothing. Looking up at the ice, he found the place where it was thickest. Arden swam up and struck it with his horn to break through. it wasn’t nearly as thick as some arctic ice sheets, breaking up immediately. He then emerged from the water and into a thick forest.

The trees were still full of green leaves, although snow and icicles sat on the branches. A foot of fresh snow cover lay on the ground; he would blend in readily. Looking over the frozen river, Arden could see that the cover wasn’t as thick there. Figuring that he should stay on his side to find the Everlastice, he began scooting across the land with his flippers.

It was much harder for him to move here. The snow was loose and had no hard pack underneath it. Instead, it had rough and uneven dirt, tree roots, and small plants. The trees were closely packed together, sometimes to where he couldn’t slide between them. There were paths, but they seemed narrow and crooked.

As he went along, he looked around for other Pokemon. This place would be full of Grass types, which were a special danger to him. But if he ran into another civilized Pokemon, it would most likely be friendly and willing to cooperate. A couple of hours into his search, though, he hadn’t run into any other Pokemon. He didn’t even hear any others, as it was near silent. The snow cover had gotten deeper, making it a bit easier to move. But not as easy as being underwater or on slick ice.

Then, he encountered falling snow. It had to be close now, he thought. He looked around for the edges of the snowfall, then headed right for the center of the storm. While it was tame compared to what he was used to, he knew it would be trouble to these Pokemon who were unused to it.

There was a crunch of snow behind him, as if someone had dropped into it. Arden twisted his upper body about to look, but a flash of green moved from that spot. It jumped over him and landed in his path. Noting how fast this Pokemon was, he went on guard just as she struck him with a whirling leaf. That eased the pain of the attack somewhat.

She was reptilian in form, with green scales on her thin build and long dark green leaves on her arms and tail. More importantly, she was wearing a strange necklace. It was a simple cord that held onto a pendant of shimmering crystals of ice. All together, they formed a shape like that of a snowflake, six-pointed with many intricate small fronds mirroring each other. That was the missing treasure.

Unfortunately, she didn’t look to be in a kindly mood. “So you’ve finally come to invade our jungle?” She brought her arms up, flaring out her leaves in an aggressive fashion. “The others may hide, but I will stop you and your kin, even if I must fight alone.” She then leaped up onto the side of the tree and clung there.

“Wait, hold on please, miss,” he said, trying to make a show of peace by lowering his head.

“I’m not going to be fooled by your wicked words,” she hissed. “I am Sonja the Grovyle, daughter of the jungle’s master. And I fight for justice!” She then bounded off across the path and into another tree. This time, she went into the leaves, seemingly vanishing.

Arden looked around. While he couldn’t see her, every now and then he heard the shaking of a snowy tree branch, with the occasional crash of ice. If it wasn’t for the winter weather, he’d have no idea where she was until she threw her leaf blades at him. He decided to keep on guard. “Listen, I have no intentions of harming you,” he called out after guarding another attack. "I am Arden the Dewgong, hero of the arctic seas.”

“One side’s hero is another side’s villain,” Sonja pointed out.

“But we don’t have to be on opposing sides,” he countered. “I want to help you; I need to speak with you about your necklace and get it back.”

“Then you’re a thief too!” She dropped back in front of him, prepared to attack at close range again.

“I haven’t fought back yet, jungle princess,” Arden said sternly, preparing to guard (although he seriously needed a healing berry right about now). “But I will if you keep attacking me. Isn’t that proof enough?”

She did hold off on attacking, but gave him a look that clearly said that she didn’t like him. “Usually only cowards and weaklings don’t fight,” she said. “Fine, what do you have to say for yourself, ice creature?”

To make his point, he flicked some snow aside with his left flipper. “I know why your jungle is covered in snow now. You’re supposed to be in summer, right? Maybe even never seeing snow. That’s because that necklace you wear brings snow with it.”

“Are you sure about that?” She clutched the shimmering snowflake. “It just looks pretty.”

“It is nice, but have you been able to escape the snowfall ever since it started? And it must have started when you got it, at some point around then. The snowfall will keep following you while you wear it.”

“Th-that’s just bad luck,” she stated, shifting her poise from aggressive to defensive.

“The stone is called Everlastice,” Arden went on. “Last year, I discovered it in the depths of a labyrinthine glacier dungeon. When I got out, I brought it to a Jynx to find out what it was. She said that it was a unique treasure, unlike anything that had been discovered. It brings about a state of winter wherever it goes. When it’s up north where I come from, you don’t notice much difference, as it’s always snowy. But here when it’s supposed to be sunny, it will make the jungle be in winter, permanently. At least, permanent until the Everlastice is taken out of your jungle.”

Sonja glowered. “So you are going to invade, and made it winter so that it’s easier on you.”

He shook his head. “No, absolutely not. I’m a hero, not an invader. Many of us agreed to keep the Everlastice with us, so that other places weren’t affected badly. But then a Sableye thief stole it from being on display. We caught him, but he had already passed off the stone. I came down here tracking it because I’m the only one strong enough to get down here, and I am able to navigate the river and the land. How did you get it?”

Stubbornly, she didn’t say anything for a minute. Then she grimaced. “There was a Sableye merchant who came into town. It was a strange day, as that was when it had first started snowing. Everyone thought it was magical, with large fluffy white flakes falling from the summer sky. And this merchant, he set up a tent on the main street and sold all sorts of foreign objects. And he said he would normally not sell this necklace, but thought I was pretty enough to deserve it.”

Arden nodded. “I see. Some group may wish to cause trouble for your jungle, but I wouldn’t know who. I’ll take the Everlastice back to make the snow return north with me.” When she still seemed reluctant, he felt a bit annoyed, but added, “I could trade for it if you really want. I have a mother-of-pearl pendant on a necklace that is just a pretty accessory; my Jynx friend says that it doesn’t have any enchantments or the like on it.”

He shifted his weight so that he could dig in his sidebag with his right flipper, then brought out the mother-of-pearl necklace and tossed it between them. He had no use for it himself, so he had kept it around for trading purposes. Quite often, the things he found in dungeons were of more use to others than himself. But that made for a good income.

On seeing it, her attitude changed. It was a misshapen circle, but one side had a silver gray background while the other had a creamy white. On both sides, there were iridescent reflections that appeared when any light struck them. Some of the girls back home might be jealous to learn that he had traded it away, but he didn’t have a true sweetheart. No big loss.

“That’s quite kind of you,” she said, picking up the mother-of-pearl necklace. She then took off the Everlastice necklace and passed it over. “Okay, I’ll agree to that. Thank you.”

Arden smiled. “And thank you, Miss Sonja.” He put it back into his bag. “I’ll be going now so that winter doesn’t stick around. I probably won’t be returning, though; this area isn’t suitable for me.”

“I guess not. Have a safe journey home then.” She put on her new necklace, then bounded away into the trees.

Listening to her move off, the Dewgong turned around and headed back towards the river. The warmth of the waters shouldn’t bother him now. But he would have to move quickly back north, so that the Everlastice didn’t trouble more Pokemon for now. “I do pity whoever has to deal with a spoiled one like you every day,” he said softly.

...

Emerald entry: Leaves grow out of this Pokemon’s body. They help obscure a Grovyle from the eyes of its enemies while it is in a thickly overgrown forest.

Dewgong Fire Red entry: Its body is covered in a pure white fur. The colder the weather, the more active it becomes.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

I meant to post this for Valentine's Day. I had it halfway done on the thirteenth, but then I ended up sick. Bleh. Anyhow, I'm hoping I can get several more done this month. I don't want to end up with the two reserves conflicting...

Juliet and Janet were twin girls, both Pokemon Trainers. They were fraternal twins, which suited them just fine because they would hate to be mistaken for one another. Even though they had grown up in near-identical lives, the two girls were different in nearly every way. Juliet had reddish-pink hair and acted so feminine and refined that people often thought she was older than she was. Janet had wheat blond hair and was such a tomboy that she always wore jeans and practiced often for the Pokeathlon.

Yet there was one thing that both the girls agreed on, and it was becoming a source of contention. They both agreed that a certain blue-haired boy named Keith was absolutely dreamy and they both wanted to be his girlfriend. However, he had shown no signs of special affection for them yet.

This was a bad thing, especially in the minds of the Nidorina and Nidorino the girls owned. Allison was the Nidorina; she belonged to Juliet and often wore a dark green ribbon around her neck. Between both teams, she was something of the caretaker, the one who encouraged new members and kept the peace. Venom was the Nidorino; he belonged to Janet and often wore a black band around his forehead which helped him train. He was looking to prove himself as the strongest of the girls’ Pokemon as well as the natural leader, although he had competition in two others. As the girls had traveled together, their Pokemon had grown close.

Especially these two. “If either of them manages to get that boy, then the other might hate her,” Allison said, worriedly hunkered down on the ground. “Then we won’t be traveling together anymore.”

As he munched on some grass, Venom considered that possibility. One of his rivals was on Juliet’s team, so he wouldn’t miss him much. But so was Allison, and he would miss her. “That would stink. What could we do about it?”

“I’m not sure.” She pushed her nose onto the ground, smelling the dirt. Sometimes, that helped her think. “I’ve been trying to figure out something. I don’t want to be apart from you.”

The Nidorino twitched his ears. “Mmm… they like him because he’s pretty, right? We could disfigure him.”

“Venom, that’s an awful idea,” Allison cried, shuddering. “Then they would hate us, not to mention how everyone else would too because we hurt a human.”

“Good point. Maybe we can find out something about him that they won’t like, so that they don’t like him anymore.”

She considered it, but couldn’t feel her heart in it. “I don’t know about blackmail either. I mean, love is a special thing and it could hurt them.”

“They’re just at a crush stage,” he noted, looking over at the two girls. Janet and Juliet were discussing about returning to the Pokeathlon stadium for a special event. However, both kept trying to sneakily glance at Keith, who was nearby lounging in a bench. They didn’t seem sure about leaving the area when they knew that he was here. “It’s not really love yet.”

“Losing a crush could hurt too,” Allison pointed out. “I thought about trying to dissuade one girl or the other, but I’m not sure which one to choose. They both like him, and I can’t tell anything about him that would cause him to pick one over the other. But even that might get the girls to part ways.” She sighed and looked over to Venom. “I love them, and I love you, and I don’t want to think of what will happen if we’re apart.”

“I don’t want to consider that either,” he said. “If things get desperate, we might consider convincing them to trade one of us so that we stay together.”

“That wouldn’t be the same. Besides, I’m not sure you’d be happy being one of Juliet’s Pokemon. She likes frills and cuteness and doesn’t really like your rugged savageness. And then, I don’t like to fight much and I like the frills, so I wouldn’t like being one of Janet’s Pokemon either. And the Pokeathlon, well, it’s so competitive…”

“It’s fun that way,” Venom said. “But I see your point. We could just let them be.”

The Nidorina sighed. “We probably should. Then again, I don’t like seeing them on the brink of arguments all the time.” She looked over to where Keith was. “Maybe we could find something about him that would solve the issue.”

“He is right there,” the Nidorino said, and started walking quietly across the park.

She hesitated, then came after him. “We have to be careful…”

“Shh.”

The two Pokemon snuck over to the bench that Keith was laying on. After a moment, they could determine that he was asleep, using his baseball cap to keep the sunlight out of his eyes. On the ground, he had left his backpack partly opened. There could be something interesting inside. But if that thing would solve the issue or not, they wouldn’t know until they looked.

A few feet away from the bench, Venom stopped, taking a deep sniff of the air. The poisonous barbs on his body began to stand on end and he growled softly. “One of his is standing watch,” he whispered to his partner. “I’ll fight it off. You grab his pack and run.”

“The whole thing?” she whispered back, stunned. Wouldn’t that make her a thief?

Before she could protest any further, Venom rushed for a patch of tall grass opposite the bench. A Nuzleaf jumped out of the way and attacked him. It tried to pay attention to her too, but Venom quickly had it turned about. Allison hurried over to the backpack. But she didn’t really want to take it all.

Nosing the top flap off, she glanced in. A medicine sprayer, some assorted accessories, a random Pokeball… all normal Trainer stuff. There was also a photo album. That would do. She bit its cardboard cover carefully to pull it out, then ran off towards her girl with it. Behind her, the Nuzleaf yelped in pain. Venom must have struck with his horn, Allison guessed. He could break through many defenses with it.

“Venom!” Janet yelled, running across to the fight as Keith was startled awake. “No fighting in the park; the staff said so!”

“That Nidorino would fight anybody,” Juliet commented, although her sister was already out of hearing. Then she looked down at her Nidorina. “Oh, what have you got there, missy? I hope you haven’t been trouble too, Allison.”

She put down the album. “I hope it’s not too much trouble,” she said, feeling a bit guilty. She just wanted to help. Besides, it wasn’t like she really meant to steal it. Keith would get it back.

Curious, Juliet opened up the album to look. “Oh, this must belong to Keith.” She flipped a page; her eyes went wide. “Huh? What’s he doing?” She shut the album, turning a bit pink. “Weird.”

Allison tilted her ears back. “Is it bad? I hope not.”

The two of them crossed back over to where Janet was apologizing to Keith. “Oh, it’s no biggie,” he said, picking up his backpack. “Pokemon will do that… hmm? Aw, where’d it go?”

“Where did what go?” Janet asked, sounding eager to help.

“Did you lose this?” Juliet asked, handing over the album.

Grinning, Keith took it back. “Yeah, that’s it! Thanks, I need it.”

“I saw the first few pictures to figure out who it belonged to,” she said, a bit embarrassed. “What was all that about?”

“It’s from my LARPing group,” he said. “We do medieval and fantasy battling. I’m trying to get in as an organizer in the Ren Fest coming up and this goes along with my application.”

“Oh, you actually battle with swords and stuff?” Janet asked. “That’s so cool! Can I learn?”

He laughed. “I could help you get registered for the classes even if I don’t get the organizer job. You want to try?”

“Sure,” she said, excited at the potential to impress him and win his heart.

“I’m not sure,” Juliet said, reluctant. “I wouldn’t like that kind of battling.”

“There’s some positions for the court ladies,” he offered. “As long as you don’t mind trying on a corset, I’m sure you’ll do well with that. And you can get your Pokemon all dressed up for the period too.”

She considered it. “Maybe. I could try it.”

While they kept talking over it, Venom came over to Allison’s side. “So did we make things better or worse? Or not do a thing?”

The Nidorina tilted her head. “I’m not sure. It will make things interesting, at least.”

…

Nidorina Soul Silver entry: It has a calm and caring nature. Because its horn grows slowly, it prefers not to fight.

Nidorino Emerald entry: Its horn is harder than a diamond. If it senses a hostile presence, all the barbs on its back bristle up at once, and it challenges the foe with all its might.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

I find it amazing that a writer, unlike a fim director or comic book artist can make a normal event, or a few simple events into an enjoyable story. You dont need car chases and fightfightfight in a story written in word.

*side note, Fiiiiiiinally a valentines story that isnt so sweet it tastes like diabetes.

I love the stories that make the mundane into something special. And the silly stories. Can never forget the silly ones.

Just a reminder, the poll for the fifth gen premiere Pokemon is going on here. There is one clear front 'mon so far, but that could easily change. I'm closing the poll on the sixth of March and hope to have the story up the same day. Speed-writing challenge, hehe.

Blitz the Combusken let out a dramatic sigh, bringing his orange wing arm up to his forehead. Yellow sand scatted from his feathers, as he was lying down on the beach. “This day has come out to be a total tragedy,” he said to no one in particular. “Me and my loyal teammates, my old war buddy Jetsam the Floatzel and a native newcomer Celine the Staryu, are now lost and unable to call for rescue…”

“Hey Blitz,” Jetsam said, coming over and knocking some more sand onto him.

“Quiet, I’m starting a soliloquy,” Blitz snapped. He looked up into the bright and cheery blue sky which, by the rules of drama, should actually be gray and treacherous. “After our resounding successes in the Sapphire Reef dungeon, including the recruitment of our newest member, we were headed back to the mainland when we were waylaid by pirates. Dozens of them!”

“Four is dozens?” Celine queried, hopping in the sand closer to the team leader.

“Yes!” Blitz insisted, back-punching the sand with his fist.

Jetsam leaned down and held his paw up to whisper, “He won’t want to admit that he got beat by a Grass type, even if it was a Ludicolo.”

“A mass of pirates on a strange and threatening ship, bearing an enormous black sail and twenty cannons,” the Combusken went on. Celine nearly mentioned that the pirates only had a raft with a small yellow sail, but the Floatzel stopped her. “We first tried to outrun them, but they overcame us. We fought bravely of course, with mighty kicks, sharp ice, blasts of water, bursts of fire, and all the usual attacks. But to no avail; they stole a good chunk of our treasure and destroyed our ship. We managed to wash up on this lone deserted island, but it’s too small for even a mini dungeon to form. It looks as though we’re going to be stuck here for several days until the Guild realizes that Team Champs has been gone for much too long.”

Coming into his vision, Jetsam gave him a questioning look. “Done now?”

Blitz clicked his beak before replying, “For now.”

The Floatzel then pointed out to the ocean. “And of course, two of us can swim this ocean without breaking a sweat.”

“But that’s not as dramatic as being shipwrecked!” Blitz said.

“Dramatic?” Celine asked.

“He thinks his life is a movie,” Jetsam said, sitting down in the sand and opening up their map. “So he’s always looking to do things that will entertain his audience.”

The Combusken threw his arms up, pointing off to where he thought Treasure Town was. “The guild master is in on it! Ever since the day that I hatched, I’ve been followed by invisible Shuppets with cameras. And many people get messages from the director to put obstacles in my path, and to keep me from suspecting that things are off. I’ve caught onto them, so I’m giving them a good show. But someday, I’ll flush them all out, even the director.” He looked over to the Staryu, with her red gem showing a glare spot form the sun. “Didn’t you get contacted?”

Scrunching three of her arms in shyly, she replied, “No…”

“Ah. Well sorry to drag you into this. It’s no big deal, really. It’s a kind of reality show, but I have to exaggerate things so they can make the movies more interesting in editing.”

Next to him, Jetsam put down the Wonder Map and pointed out a route. “The tides shouldn’t be too bad on our way, and there’s a full moon tonight. It’ll be a longer trip than having our raft, but we can make it. You agree?”

Celine looked at it. “The distance is not as short as here.”

“It’s a map,” he said. “It can’t be full scale, or we couldn’t carry it around. This is, oh, around twenty-nine miles.”

“How long is a mile?” she asked, reminding them that she had been a wild Pokemon up until this morning.

Jetsam flipped his tail in the sand (working to hold back an insult) before folding the map back up. “You should be fine,” he said. “You’ll be able to keep up with me.”

“You swim fast,” she said, uncertain.

“I won’t be able to swim as fast this time.” He nudged Blitz with his foot after getting up. “Come on, celebrity boy. We’re going back home.”

The Combusken sat up, looking at him incredulously. “Oh sure, you two can just swim. But what about me?”

Chuckling, Jetsam tapped the yellow sacs on his shoulders and back. They began taking in air to puff up to a fully inflated state. It gave him quite a boost in size, which would be enough to ferry Blitz across, barely. “I’d like to see your crew hide out on the open ocean.”

“They’re invisible Ghosts; of course they can hide.” Blitz got up and shook sand out of his feathers. “Fine, if you’re offering, I’ll be brave and cross with you.”

They entered the shallows of the sea. With his flotation sacs inflated, Jetsam stayed right on the surface. He flipped around in the water to get sand off, then swam in place to let Blitz clamber onto his back. Celine used all of her body muscles to swim around them, then followed close by as the Floatzel lead the way.

Being in the open ocean, they didn’t run into many wild Pokemon. It wasn’t a boring trip, though. Blitz would have none of that. As the sun lowered in the sky, he recounted many of the greater exploits of Team Champs. Ever since he had founded the group as an enthusiastic young Torchic, Blitz wanted to go on the most dramatic and amazing adventures ever. It was all for the sake of the ‘audience’, of course. Jetsam often corrected his partner’s exaggerations, but the pair was amused by exchange.

As the night took over, the red gem of Celine’s body began to glow red. It drifted in and out of brightness, giving the dark waters a red glow. “Could be night predators out,” the Staryu said quietly.

“Don’t worry about that none,” Blitz said. “I’ll kick them in the jaws and send them packing.”

“From my back?” Jetsam teased, holding his snout above the water to speak. “You might fall in. On the other paw, I could dive down and hunt them; it’s in my ancestral blood. But not right now. I still wouldn’t worry; they’re not likely to come out with this noisy windbag yapping.”

The Combusken sat up straight and proud. “Yeah, I’ll intimidate them all. Especially if I do this: RAAAAHHHKKK!”

In response, Celine’s gem pulsed quicker. The waves sent back faint echoes of the cry. “That would intimidate,” she said, a bit shakily.

“You’re one of us,” the Floatzel said. “We wouldn’t hurt a teammate.”

“Hmm?” Blitz leaned forward. “Hey, are there aliens under the seas? That would make such an awesome subplot.”

“Not that I know of,” Celine replied, puzzled.

“Are you talking about those lights in the water?” Jetsam asked. “I think that’s her kin.”

She made a splash on the surface. “Oh yes, it’s another group of them. The brighter light is a Starmie too.”

Making another splash with his paw, he asked, “Well could you go down and ask for directions to the nearest shore, Celine? There isn’t another island in sight to check the map.”

“I can see the shoreline,” Blitz said, pointing towards a black mass ahead of them.

“Yes, but I’d like to know where it’s closest,” Jetsam said. “I do have to swim and carry you, so you surely don’t want me to get exhausted.”

“Okay, I’ll be back,” Celine said, just before diving down to send light signals down to the other Staryu.

“She’s a pretty good novice,” the Combusken said. “She’ll get used to our ways in time, I think.”

“I hope so. You’ve gained and lost more novices than any other team leader.”

He crossed his wings over his chest. “It’s not my fault if they can’t deal with the pressure of being on a reality show movie.”

A minute later, Celine came back to the surface. “They say we’re not far,” she said, indicating a particular direction by jabbing one arm. “And the tide is low, so sandbanks will be high.”

“Good, then let’s get there,” Blitz said. “Don’t worry; I’ll fight anything on the trek back to town.”

Not far turned out to be nearly an hour later, but the three Pokemon got onto the sandy shore. Blitz hopped off as soon as he found it feasible, even though he ended up waist deep in water. He hurried out and onto less sandy grounds, to use his fires to dry off quicker. Jetsam and Celine took their time going up the beach. “Is he really your team leader?” Celine asked. “He seems… odd.”

The Floatzel chuckled. “We don’t call Blitz crazy,” he said. “He’s harmlessly eccentric. I call him the team leader, although I’m the one who always fills out the mission reports and makes official decisions. He can hardly be counted on to retell a story accurately.”

“He-ey, you’d better not be tired yet!” Blitz called out to them. “We’re going to arrive in town proud and strong, even if we only have a few treasures left from the pirate attack. It’s gonna make for a great story arc.”

“Of course, boss,” Jetsam called back.

Celine did her best to twist her body and waddle faster. “Be right there.”

…

Sapphire entry: Combusken battles with intensely hot flames it spews from its beak and outstandingly destructive kicks. This Pokemon’s cry is very loud and distracting.

Floatzel Pearl entry: Its flotation device developed as a result of pursuing aquatic prey. It can doubt as a rubber raft.

Staryu Heart Gold entry: At night, the middle of its body slowly flickers with the same rhythm as a human heartbeat.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

*Wonders if people aren't waiting to request more fifth gen Pokemon...*

In Process: ???
On deck: nothing.
Reserve: ??? (3/6)

Skuntank, Swalot, and Slaking

BEEEELLLLCCCHHH!

It was a rather horrific day in the Simple Woods. Normally, it was the most pleasant, sweetest, and nicest place in the entire Pokemon world, where cute Pokemon came to play and sing. There were never any battles, because that just wasn’t how things happened in Simple Woods. Everyone was so kind, helpful, and cheerful here that battle-thirsty Pokemon couldn’t stand to be anywhere near the place. It was all too cutesy… but not today.

A Skuntank snickered. “Nice one. Did you hear the birds just fall out of the sky to it?”

The Swalot next to him smacked his enormous gooey lips. “They got no guts if they can’t appreciate a good belch.”

Close to the Simple Woods, there was a place called the Gurgling Goo Swamp. Its inhabitants were mostly the venomous kind, but all disgusting and repulsive. And they took great pride in this, negating all manners in order to achieve the grossest level of behaviors. Most of the time, they never bothered with the cute inhabitants of Simple Woods. But for some reason, these two had come out of Gurgling Goo today to torment them.

A horrid stench hung around the two, something like rotted cabbage, spoiled eggs, and burning plastic. But although it made the Cleffas and the Budews cry, Skuntank and Swalot seemed to enjoy it. They even hung around the place where the former had marked a tree so that the smell got even worse.

“They’re not getting this out for at least two weeks,” Skuntank said proudly on sniffing the progress. “Such a magnificent stanky odor, one that proves my power.”

Swalot moved along the path, although it was more of an oozy glide than a walk. “Do you want to spray somewhere else to encourage the swamp’s growth?”

Although he shook his head, he trotted along after his buddy. His wide furry tail swished along his back and on top of his tail, as he felt that was the rudest way to walk. “Nah, I need some time to build up to a full power stink again. But we should look around for another good place to return to tomorrow.”

He made a weird burbling sound before saying, “Is this going to take a while? The swamp’s getting crowded; we need to make more space quickly.”

“I know, I know. But the time will make them suffer more.” He laughed sharply. “It’ll make things better when this happy fun place turns over to our slimy goopy swamp, to have that extra touch of tears and despair.”

They were going to take over the woods? There was whispering in the trees following those statements. What should the cute residents do about them? Or what could they do? None of them liked to fight and these two had already beaten up a pair of Buneary that happened to be on their way in. One Clefairy thought that maybe a powerfully cute song could win them over. But as soon as she took in a deep breath, she breathed in a large whiff of the stench and promptly gagged. She fell right out of the tree into their path.

“Oh look, it’s a puffball,” Skuntank said. He then thwacked her away with his tail, sending her back into the trees. “Fore!”

“I think you’re supposed to yell that before you swing,” Swalot commented.

“Pffft, what difference does it make? Doesn’t sound like I made her hit anything.”

“I fought one of them one time.” He paused, thinking. “It was a girl who’d come into the swamp after some flowers, but she was gutsier than these wimps. And quite the belcher too, given that her mouth can’t unhinge and open up completely like mine can. She wasn’t making stuff wilt by burping, but she could do musical burps. Anyhow, when we started fighting, she kept waggling her fingers and using weird moves. One time, she attacked with Gastro Acid. The scent of it made her puke.”

Skuntank laughed. “Sounds just like these weaklings! Shouldn’t be trying to cheat and use moves you’re not supposed to.”

Swalot gave a wet burp, although not anything like the one he’d made earlier. “I just swallowed the attack,” he rambled on. “Nothing can dissolve my stomach. Although, it gave me a nasty heartburn for the rest of the day. Probably because it wasn’t my acid. But the point of my story about the fight is… hey, what’s this place?”

Stopping to look around, the pair saw a large opening. It was a place that the residents like to hold group dances and sing-a-longs, as there was plenty of space for a crowd. Many flowers bloomed here every day in the spring and summer; sometimes they even showed up in winter. But as the invaders’ poisonous presence came into the grassy meadow, the flowers nearest to them started to wilt and droop. Even the plants here were used to cheerful happiness, not devious rudeness.

There was something odd about the meadow, though. In two areas, there were large patches of brown dirt and faded smashed grass. Both areas were almost circular, with the trampled plants in the middle. A third area was starting to become like this. In that patch, there was a large tan Pokemon lounging with her eyes half closed. The Slaking had moved into the Simple Woods months ago, getting in the way and tearing up grass. The residents had tried to get her to move out, as she clearly was not cute. But Slaking wasn’t affected by anything they did. No amount of pleading, singing, poking, or talking would get her to leave.

“Hey punk, what’re you doing here?” Skuntank asked, walking right up to her. “You don’t look like you belong.”

“We don’t belong here either,” Swalot mentioned, oozing over but keeping his distance. “I don’t know if you want to mess with this one, though.”

“Bah, I’ll do what I want. So what are you doing here?”

Slaking blinked before opening her eyes fully to look at them. She said nothing. After a moment of that, she reached out, grabbed a fistful of grass, and ate it. Some green flecks of spit appeared on her hand and chin.

“Oh, you one of us then?” Skuntank asked. “Funny; I never seen you around Gurgling Goo before. You helping us to turn this place into a swamp, then?” He blew on some of the bright grass, causing it to instantly dull from the poison on his breath. “We’re gonna make this place murky!”

“Mmm?” Slaking mumbled, looking wide-eyed at the dulled grass. That was in her reach, so it was part of her ten day long meal. Angered at the ruined food, she furrowed her eyebrows and glared at Skuntank.

“What, did I say something to offend you?” he replied tauntingly. “I’m a master at that.”

A gloopy arm reached out to him as Swalot tried to get his attention. “Hey smelly, I really think you should be careful around her. I’ve heard stories…”

“Never mind your stories,” Skuntank interrupted. “You take forever to tell them and seemingly never get to the point you were trying to make. She’s got quite the grasp of rudeness to not speak to me yet, but must have thin skin to let what I have said get to her. That’s right,” he said, looking back to her. “You’re a sissy and probably a crybaby too. In that case, you fit right in with these pacifist dorks!” He laughed.

Slaking grumbled. Figuring that it wasn’t worth the effort to get up for this, she lifted her thick arm and snatched Skuntank’s tail. And for a moment, she just lay there on the ground, holding onto him in that way.

“Hey, leggo of my tail!” He tried to tug it away, but her grip was too strong. “Lazy bum; can’t even get up to fight properly, huh? Hey Swalot, why don’t you try to eat her?”

The slimeball Pokemon gave him a questioning look. “Eat her? I don’t think that’ll work.”

“She ain’t moving fast; I can even make her smell really ripe. Besides, I’ve seen you eat a car.”

“That took me a whole day,” Swalot pointed out. “And it made my jaw ache. Unlike the car, she’s alive, and I don’t particularly like eating foods that raw. They squirm nastily before my stomach acid can digest them.”

“You’re just a scaredy… whaaa!” In the middle of his insult, Slaking lifted Skuntank off the ground. Having built up the will to move, she whirled him around by the tail several times to build up momentum. Then she flung him through the canopy and far into the sky, at such an arc that he might have traveled for over a mile before he came back down to earth.

Slaking then dropped her arm back onto her side and looked at Swalot blankly.

Oily looking sweat came from his body. “Uh, I’ll be going then. This, uh, place is too sweet for someone like me to hang around for too long. It’ll give me a stomachache.” The oozy Pokemon then made his way out of the Simple Woods, silently telling himself that he wouldn’t be coming here again any time soon.

With that bother gone, Slaking looked down at the wilted grass. Such a waste. She ripped it out and ate it anyhow. She didn’t do nearly enough to make it much of a bother.

When it became clear that the swamp Pokemon weren’t going to try taking over again, the residents of the Simple Woods were thrilled with their unexpected hero. They named Slaking an honorary cute Pokemon and a great friend to the woods. As the days went by, the younger ones like to play around Slaking, jumping onto her side and dancing as if on a stage.

Slaking herself didn’t really care if they did so. As long as nobody fussed about her being there and eating the grass, she didn’t have the energy to fuss about them playing around her. Besides, it was kind of nice to have mealtime entertainment.

…

Slaking FR/LG entry: It is the worlds most slothful Pokemon. However, it can exert horrifying power by releasing pent-up energy all at once.

Skuntank Pearl entry: It sprays a stinky fluid from its tail. The fluid smells worse the longer it is allowed to fester.

Emerald entry: Its powerful stomach acid is capable of digesting almost anything. The one thing in the whole world that Swalot can’t digest is its own stomach.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Heh, I get a lot of questions asking about my username. Neither is the way I say it; that would be more [yuh-sAV-re-ill], provided you roll the v and r part. That's because it was originally a name for a dragon and it had to sound 'growly'. hehe.

And some more trivia: this is my 200th Pokedex One-shot entry! So I've picked a legendary that was suggested several times, but I never went for it. This story would be AU for the Kanto and Johto regions if the PC character had never taken out Giovanni and Team Rocket.

Also, it seems you see a lot of stories about one or the other, but not often both...

In Process: ??? (3/6)
On deck: Rhydon/Mr. Mime

Ho-oh and Lugia

A rainbow descended from the cloudy sky. Softly glowing, the red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet kept in a ribbon, bound in white. But it did not behave as the usual rainbows. It curved and twisted, turned and dropped, more like a fluttering ribbon than a perfect curve. Ahead of the rainbow, there flew a legendary bird of fantastic colors. Bright red tipped with green, a few golden curls… Ho-oh had heard a beautiful music, and knew there was a sacred dance. She had come.

It had been a long time since she had last come home. Her roosting tower had been struck by lightning and set ablaze. However, few seemed to remember the source of that lightning. Because of that source, she had declined to come back, even after they had built an impressive new tower to replace the old one. But a ringing of that quality, coming across in supernatural means, meant that someone of a pure heart was there, calling her home. She would answer.

And yet, as she circled the human town in its gray drizzle, something didn’t seem right. Her mind’s eye was not so powerful compared to others of her level, although it was far above the mortal Pokemon who lived with the humans. Through this, she could see that a black shadow pervaded the land. The hearts of people and Pokemon alike were beating in fear. Violence and greed were controlling them from secret places. Even the sacred dance had an undertone of fear, as if they couldn’t fully let the world go in favor of the music.

Ho-oh considered leaving. The darkness wasn’t a world for her. Then again, there was that pure heart and the song had reached out to her on supernatural levels. That could mean that one of the greater powers, far above any Pokemon she knew of, wished her to return. Perhaps her presence was meant to put a crack in the shadow so that the light of justice could shine.

She came to the top of the new tower and began to descend in a hover, to see who was calling. It turned out to be one of the kimono girls, while her four peers were closing up the dance now that she had appeared. Although Ho-oh had come, the one with the clear bell was anxious, as if not really wanting to see her. At least, not like this. Near her, there were four men. Three wore waterproof black uniforms that had a bright red R on them; those uniforms were unsettlingly like the darkness that held everyone in fear. The fourth was not well, a man with a violet scarf who was being threatened with some kind of small weapon.

This was definitely not how she was meant to be called on.

Reasonably, she wasn’t supposed to interfere with human matters. But they were involving her, whether she liked it or not. If she returned to the rainclouds, the black uniformed men might kill their captive, or even the kimono girls. She didn’t like the thought of that. Maybe if they meant to capture her, it would be fine if she fought back.

Ho-oh came closer, calling out a challenge to the thugs. One came forward with a small device and activated something. On the rod atop the tower, a black box began to glow, then fired a red beam at her. It struck her legs, but instead of harming her, the energy beam latched on and would not let go. She beat her wings and tried to pull it off, but it pulled back tighter, briefly making her lose feeling in her feet. They had her, but for what purpose?

Realizing that she was in deep trouble, she cried out across the heavens.

-+-

Off the southern shores of Johto, there lay a confusing patch of sea. Whirlpools and rocky reefs created a surface maze that few could navigate. Below the rough waters, there were caves and tunnels, many of which led to dead ends. And underneath all that, in the deep waters, he kept to himself.

It wasn’t out of malice that he hid, no. He loved the world above the waves too, and enjoyed flying through the blue skies. However, there were problems with this. He was simply too powerful for his own good. When he beat his wings against the air, he stirred up storms. The winds that came in his wake were destructive, tearing up that which the humans built. Feeling guilty because of this, Lugia had dove into the ocean. Now he only flew in the water.

It didn’t help when he heard that those on land said that when hurricanes came, he must have been in the air. Given that he had been in the seas for nearly a century, it was never him. He wanted to make a better name for himself, so he looked to take care of the seas. He watched over ships that respected the waters and troubled those that did not. When he felt the fears of castaways, he encouraged the sea Pokemon to go assist them. But this never quite overcame his history as the storm maker.

Over the past five years, a creeping darkness had come across Johto. He had felt it even from beneath the waves. It had started in Kanto, a band of thieves that didn’t seem dangerous. But its leader was much more than a thief and those who lived by crime began to take over. Now they controlled the human towns, the ones marked by the red R.

Lugia was troubled by their presence, but he did not interfere directly. He had warned the sea Pokemon to be cautious. While he wanted to hassle their ships, they had the cunning to travel along with innocent civilians. He wouldn’t harm them, so there wasn’t much he could do from underwater. At this point, staying out of their grasp seemed to be the wisest course.

And then a cry of fear reached out to him. The sound could not pierce from the sky to the sea, but the feel of it went right to his heart. Raising his head, he searched for the meaning of this. It seemed that she had returned and they were trying to capture her.

Why did she come back now? It was a dark time, and she was attracted to light. And they would have dangerous intents. From the Pokemon of Johto, he had often felt such suffering, like Slowpokes who were held captive in darkness to harvest their regrowing tails. They wouldn’t hesitate to harm her for their own benefit. She could fight back though, even avoid capture. Right? Then why did she sound scared?

But it was her, and it didn’t sit well with him that she was in trouble. It was dangerous for him to fly above waters. But maybe those of the red R needed to know the kind of power they were dealing with. They needed to see that their darkness was not welcome. Hoping for the forgiveness of the innocent people he was about to trouble, Lugia beat his wings and ascended through the dark depths.

Overhead, there was a light rain shower that spread itself over much of the land. He was the storm maker, though, and his anger was growing. The ocean waters gathered around him as he burst from the surface and headed for the clouds. From the shores, any witnesses would barely see him within the mass cloud of suddenly evaporating water. He rose and the water rose, joining the dark clouds overhead. As he beat his wings, the air stirred to life. Gusts started flying, causing particles to rub against each other and build static. When he reached the height he wanted, a bolt of lightning jumped within the clouds. The gentle rain shower was now his storm.

She kept struggling with the bright leash on her feet, but every time she pulled, it pulled back tighter. She tried to fight the black uniformed men, but they had planned for her. With them were Pokemon that were effective against her power types. And they were powerful; in their eyes, she could see that they were driven by cruel training and a resulting madness. How could the humans have turned so abusive against their partners?

But there was still good. She could see that in the kimono girls, and even in the captive man. While he was flawed, it wasn’t bad flaws. He could overcome them. That is, if they didn’t kill him here. Some kind of poison seemed to be in his body, keeping him from fighting back. Ho-oh had managed to burn the one holding him, letting the girl with the bell pull him away. But the men seemed to be armed with dangerous tools and dangerous Pokemon.

Seeing that, she made a special call to the skies, asking for the blessings of the sun. The cloud cover began to thin in spots as bright sunlight pierced through. The coolness turned to warmth and the power of her flames grew. However, she was still fighting a Pokemon of rocks and a Pokemon of waters. Those kinds were not easily burned.

And then she saw it: a wall of wind and water that was barreling across the landscape. She knew that kind of storm. It only came when he was around. While it was a relief to have help, it was surprising. He had been out of the skies of Johto for longer than she had. Perhaps Lugia had remembered her and had come for her.

The approaching storm was dangerous, especially for those atop the tower. Ho-oh startled them briefly with a gust of hot dry wind from her wings, then dropped down to where the tower would block part of the winds. At first, she nearly couldn’t get there. But then a ripple of power shot ahead of the storm, striking the black device and ending its hold on her. She was then able to brace herself.

The rain wall crashed into the city, turning a light drizzle into a heavy downpour. Lightning lit up the clouds that drastically darkened the sky. When it hit the tower, it shuddered but did not fall. The people on top were not as lucky. The men in black uniforms were knocked down to the floor, while the kimono girls yelped and grabbed hold of each other. As for the weakened man and the other girl, they weren’t so lucky. The wind blasted them with enough force to blow them both completely off the tower. She managed to catch them on her back, but that meant she had to hover carefully so as not to drop them.

In a break of the thunderclaps, there was a fierce howl of anger from Lugia. Ignoring normal courtesy, he attacked the black uniformed men, keeping them from getting up. His power made the storm stay strong, but her power made the sun stay strong. Little shafts of golden light broke through the violent winds. In the presence of them both, the raindrops turned into prisms, sending forth all sorts of colors into the air so that it seemed to be pouring rainbows. Yet, this was dangerous. His cold waters and her hot fires would eventually turn the air so wild that it formed deadly cyclones.

She made a pleading cry to him. The R men had captured her, yes, but the kimono girls and the man she had were not at fault. They would be in danger if left here. And yes, she had come for one of the girls.

He relented readily; it must have been a hard decision for him to leave the waters to come after her. His mind’s eye was enhanced by his power, which allowed him to suggest to the humans that they should leave with them. Carefully, he perched on the edge of the tower. The girls were initially reluctant, but went with it to get out of the danger.

Once they had the six secured, Ho-oh and Lugia flew off to the west.

-+-

His flight across Johto had done some damage. But it pleased Lugia some that the greatest damage he sensed was to a place where the red R group coordinated their efforts across the region. And people had seen them, not just these six with them. The tale of what happened today would hopefully inspire the humans to fight the darkness, not accept it.

They had landed on a quiet beach of an island southwest of the Johto mainland. Lugia had sent his storm to continue over the sea, to calm it out safely. Now that they were on land, the five kimono girls had tended to the man with them. Two got sent off to a nearby town for an antidote. Lugia considered returning to the sea, but Ho-oh had convinced him otherwise.

Even after all this time, she was much the same. She didn’t like this darkness either, but she wanted to inspire the good people. She wanted to reward them, make the children happy. Even though the dark ones had tried to capture her, she had decided to stir up what light there was.

It had been so long since they had been together. He could remember why he liked being around her. While he still felt guilt over his storms and repulsion at the greedy men, she could make him feel hope for light and forgiveness again. The years when they had both been gone had been heavy with sadness. But did he dare come out of the seas more often to see her more often?

The man, whose name was Morty, began to stir again. He seemed to be in stunned awe on seeing the two guardian birds together, still there and waiting to see if he’d be all right. Such simple things causing wonder; that was the kind of things she liked.

And then Ho-oh sang for a short bit, directing his attention to the skies over mainland Johto. There was a bright and bold double rainbow out there. In her song, she told him that they ought to bring rainbows to this land more often. She could make them, but to make them so brilliant, she needed his support.

Lugia sang back to her softly. It would make him happy to help create rainbows with her.

…

Ho-oh Fire Red entry: A legend says that its body glows in seven colors. A rainbow is said to form behind it when it flies.

Lugia Soul Silver entry: It is said to be the guardian of the seas. It is rumored to have been seen on the night of a storm.

Last edited by Ysavvryl; 2nd March 2011 at 3:46 PM.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Anyhow, somehow I got March 6th as the release date. That made this a bit of a hassle, since I had plans that ate up most of my day. But I still managed to write this on the day that Serebii released the Pokedex flavor text info. Anyhow, all ten Pokemon in the poll got at least one vote. Joltik made an early leader, but with twenty voters on my poll, the winners are Snivy and Litwick.

Fifth gen Pokemon are now available for general requests too. And I could use requests.

In process: Rhydon/Mr. Mime
On deck: Nothing...

Snivy and Litwick

The sun had set, but her travels weren’t over. Sandra the Snivy scurried under the tall grasses, allowing them to disguise her green form. As the sun had shone all day, she could move across the land at her fastest. But as this was such a long trip which such a heavy pack on her back, she paced herself and did not press her energy. She could be there in a few hours, much better than her rival who certainly couldn’t arrive until the next day. Especially not when he had taken the long road around.

There was just one problem with her route. As the grass thinned out at the top of a hill, she could see the last obstacle. It was a treacherous wasteland, a flat area where the rougher plants grew. While there were rock that could provide cover, the colors of this place were different, making her bright green show up more readily and there were patches of bare ground with no cover, from which nighttime predators might spot here. Worst of all, there were the shimmering patches all over. They appeared to reflect light like pools of water. But Sandra knew that this wasn’t safe. Those were tar pits, deeply filled with a sticky thick substance that could swallow hapless Pokemon alive.

Yes, it was dangerous, and why most Pokemon who knew stuck to the main roads. But provided one kept alert and didn’t allow oneself to be fooled, this place could be used as a shortcut to Silverleaf City. Picking out a route to start with, the Snivy moved down the hill and into the tar pit wastes.

Partway in, Sandra thought to herself that perhaps she had made a miscalculation. The moon was three-quarters full, so she had expected to have enough light to see the tar pits by. But it was still tough. When she found her front paw pressing against softer ground, she knew that she couldn’t see all of them. She managed to avoid that one, but would have to move slower to get across safely. They did have a scent but as it permeated the whole area, it wasn’t a reliable cue either.

“Feh, might be too dangerous tonight,” she said softly. The problem was, she was already quite a ways into the wasteland. It wouldn’t be much easier to go back how she’d come in. If she were really quick and if she ditched her backpack, she might be able to race across the pits without sinking. But, she had done a lot of work to get the goods she had, so wasn’t ready to give them up just yet.

She then spotted a flickering light not too far off. It was like some kind of small purple flame. But what was that doing out in the wasteland? Even more puzzling, it began hopping in place, almost beckoning.

On observing things, she noticed a tar pit between her and the hopping light. It gave her an idea of what it might be. Sandra walked carefully around the tar pit, partly using the light as a hint. Since she seemed to be going in the right direction, she considered not going to the actual light. But once she started walking away, it began hopping towards her. Small rhythmic pats came into her hearing.

Then she met the creature itself, a gray-white candle Pokemon with a ghostly flame. It did not seem to have a mouth, but she heard something from it all the same. ‘Hello, trader,’ it said, having a bit of a masculine tone. ‘It’s a beautiful night for you to come out to this place.’

“There is an impressive amount of stars out,” she said, still moving. “But I don’t appreciate you trying to kill me, Litwick.”

The candle Pokemon hopped after her. ‘Pardon? That is a rude thing to accuse someone of when you’ve just met him.’

“You tried to lure me across a tar pit,” she said, speaking in a matter-of-fact way. She didn’t like to be seen losing her cool and collected manner, even if the Pokemon with her was a predator. Then again, “My name is Sandra. I would hope that you follow the common courtesy of not hunting someone that you know the name of.”

She paused to look back at him, nearly causing him to trip when he stopped his hops. “That is an oddly literary name for someone who lives in a wasteland.”

He chuckled. ‘My mother hung in a library. I’m just here to build my strength.’

“Ah. So how long have you been here?”

Seeming pleased at her new interest, Chaucer said, ‘About two years now. Why?’

He might be light enough to stay safe from the tar pits, or his Ghost nature could protect him. Yet, perhaps in living here, he might know the ways around the pits. Sandra decided to give it a shot. “I need to get to Silverleaf City and I came down here because I’m in a hurry. I am a trader, so I could give you something if you agree to lead me through a safe path around all these tar pits.”

His black eyes brightened as he heard the offer. ‘Ah, is that all? Well I suppose for something nice, I could do so easily. What do you have?’

The Snivy studied him for a moment, then reviewed what she had for something that might interest him. “I have some incense cones,” which he seemed a little interested in, but not enough to guarantee her safety. “Some fashion jewelry,” definitely not, but one never could tell. “Chocolates.”

Although she hadn’t been sure if he could eat things like that, it did get his attention. ‘Chocolates? I haven’t had anything like that since I came out to the wild.’

“I could give you three pieces,” she said. In the last town, she had gotten many of these treats, which needed to go quickly. The offer of three would leave her plenty to sell.

The Litwick made a little bow, nearly dripping some wax onto the ground. ‘That sounds good. All right Miss Sandra. From this point, it will be faster to get you to a point on the main road that will put you a little over a mile from Silverleaf. Going directly to the city from here would force us around some of the largest tar pits. This way.’ He hopped ahead of her

Feeling pleased with the deal, Sandra followed along after Chaucer’s hopping gait. He did lead her safely through the tar pits to the main road, where she could see the lights of the city. Not one to back down on her word, she then pulled off her pack to get him three wrapped chocolates. The best deals were the ones that both sides were pleased with; it was a business philosophy that Sandra followed in everything, even in this night-time encounter.

Although by the time she got to an inn, she felt utterly exhausted.

…

Snivy Black entry: It is very intelligent and calm. Being exposed to lots of sunlight makes its movements swifter.

Litwick White entry: While shining a light and pretending to be a guide, it leeches off the life force of any who follow it.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

Anyway. Snivy is boss :D And no, that sentiment did not come from the fact that I nominated it.

While there were rock that could provide cover,

Were rocks? Or was rock? And why did I automatically read this part as wererock (guy turns into a rock every full moon)?

It did not seem to have a mouth, but she heard something from it all the same.

Flitwick Litwick does actually have a mouth actually. It's got a c: expression.

Man, I love how Sandra's personality. Not ready to give the goods up yet, indeed. And am I the only one who thinks Litwick looks like a marshmallow? With those chocolates Sandra gave him, all he needs is a couple graham crackers and he'll become the one that needs to worry about predators. "Congratulations! Your Flitwick evolved into S'more!"

Excellent as usual, and I will review more often. *makes note to self*

I've been keeping up with these even though I haven't commented. The Lugia and Ho-oh one was so sweet, while the Snivy and Litwick was nothing like I expected it to be. Keep 'em, coming, these are great!

And may I request a Krookodile/Haxorus story, now that Unova pokes are available for requests?

I didn't mean to be gone from this for so long... anyhow, POS won some awards in the 2011 Awards voting. It's nice, but I thought it was unfair personally for the whole thread to be nominated for Best One-Shot. And it's weird that the older Shuppet entry got nominated too... but good to know that people still like it.

The Fan Fiction Club is running a challenge to write an April Fool's story. Mine will likely show up here, since I cover holidays most of the time. This one isn't exactly St. Patrick's Day material, though.

For today’s performance, they had dragged a small player piano out to the park with them. It was a working antique, but the day was too nice for it to be ruined and it was too bulky for anyone to steal. It was made of wood and gears, requiring a good winding so that it would play. And it was such a pretty thing, with carvings of balloons and stars on all sides. In a box, there were over a dozen reels, so they had plenty of songs to let it play. And as a definite plus, it was an actual object.

The main reason that was a plus was that the two performers were a pair of Mr. Mime. They had a massive arsenal of items for their show: bananas, boxes, ropes, ladders, tin cans, paint cans, paint brushes, eggs, keys, doors, signs, and so on. However, these items were all imaginary. If they wanted to use them in a show, they would have to conjure them up by miming the items. The item wouldn’t stick until someone watched their act and believed it. Then, the item was there for continued use until put away. It would still be invisible, though.

And they would have to remain silent throughout the performance. It was a point of pride for a Mr. Mime to be able to get by without ever speaking. Sometimes, it was difficult; getting the shopping done could be an ordeal if the shopkeeper wasn’t used to them. There were some of their kin that held that they could speak if not in a performance. Not this pair. They never spoke if they could help it, not even by telepathy. Of course, they had their own way of speaking silently with each other.

Next to the piano, they placed a cheerfully painted sign (a real visible one) that said, ‘Pete and Patty’s Street Antics! Please donate so our show can keep running.’ Next to it, they put a (real) coffee can for donations in. They loved showing off their skills, but it was hard making a living and keeping a regular act going.

Patty picked out a new music reel, then replaced it while Pete turned the crank to give the gears energy. It was a market day, so the piano was to lure shoppers into pausing to watch, then to drop off a few coins. As she got done before he did, Patty pulled out an imaginary hairbrush and brushed through her springs of curly red hair. An actor, even one of pantomime, had to keep looking good.

Once Pete flipped the switch, the player piano began belting out another tune. He clapped his hands, then waved out to Pokemon to get them to stop and watch. After thinking on what to do, Patty dropped down and picked up a nothing. Shape to be a round sphere… and large. She lifted it up, and then bounced it on the ground to catch again.

Before long, another audience formed, including a Rhydon that was wearing a red silk scarf around his neck. That scarf, with the white diamond pattern on the ends... normally, it was a bad sign. But she was pleased to see it this time, as he must have evolved recently. When Paul had been a Rhyhorn, he had been a terrible audience member because he didn’t believe. He’d never been bright enough to have the imagination to figure out their pantomimes, and so his disbelief would extinguish so many invisible items. According to the books, his kind grew smarter upon evolution. So would he believe this time?

She continued bouncing her item until Pete turned to her. Indicating that she had a spherical object that was light, she tossed it to him. He winked and caught it, then tossed it back by holding it in one hand, then bumping it with his fist from the bottom. She watched it in surprise, then hurried back a few steps to push it back with her hands.

“Oh, you’re playing volleyball!” one of the young members of the audience called out.

Pete grinned at that and tossed the ball back to Patty. And when she went to hit it, it had weight this time. It was real because it was believed. Jumping up, she indicated to her partner that she wanted to pull a juggling routine. He nodded, caught the ball and held it, then put it down to pick up another ‘ball’ while she did the same.

“Can you make a beach ball?” a young Piplup asked.

Sure enough; Patty nodded, then made sure to indicate that her new ball was larger than the volleyball, but lighter. A beach ball.

“You two are still at this every day?” Paul the Rhyhorn asked. “I don’t get how… ow, hey!” He flinched and rubbed his face.

Patty and Pete grinned at each other. He had felt it; their disbeliever had felt one of their imaginary objects. As several more Pokemon came to see what was happening, the kids laughed. “You got hit by a basketball!” the Charmander said gleefully.

Paul looked puzzled. “Wha-what? That… that did feel like a basketball.”

Pete waved at Paul, indicating where the basketball had ended up. Toss it back, he was motioning for. Toss the ball back. Then he would see.

Hesitating, the Rhydon looked at the spot. “I’m not sure about this. I mean, you guys never had any real objects before.”

While the kids protested in their favor, Patty decided that she wanted to try something. A proof that their powers were real (as long as no one disbelieved). She spun the beach ball around in her hands; hopefully the kids at least believed it was sturdy. Then she twirled around to get the attention of the audience. The trick also wouldn’t work if others weren’t watching it.

They were watching her now, helped by Pete pointing. Patty then set her invisible beach ball on the ground. She pressed down on the top, indicating that it was of a good size. Thankfully, it felt strong, with good air pressure. She placed her hands firmly in place, then the Mr. Mime flipped herself up into a handstand on top of the beach ball. Expertly, she flipped herself again so that she was sitting upright and facing the audience. It might appear that she was levitating with her Psychic powers, but that wasn’t right. She was using those powers to make an imaginary object real enough to sit on.

At that, the kids and the newer audience members clapped and cheered. Paul stared at her. She got a sense that he wasn’t sure if he should believe this, but he couldn’t deny what he was seeing. To enforce his belief, Patty made a bowing gesture. It caused her to come off balance on the ball a bit, so she then widened her eyes and made a frantic motion to get centered. The kids laughed, but it was worth it to get Paul to believe.

“I don’t get it,” he said, scratching the side of his head. Now that he was going around on two legs instead of four, he could do that. “You never seemed to be doing anything real before.”

Pete made a lavish arm spread to call attention to himself, then invited Paul to come over. This would be such fun, Patty thought. Now they could make the Rhydon a part of the show instead of getting things ruined by him.

“Um, I guess,” Paul said, then started to walk over. Unfortunately, he seemed to have forgotten about the basketball and promptly tripped over it, falling onto his face. The kids laughed and one of them cried out that he would get it.

After going over to help him up, Pete brought Paul into their staging area. He had the Rhydon stand in one spot, then stepped back and held his hands spread out. Oh, he was going to pull the famous wall trick. Remaining balanced on the beach ball, Patty watched as her partner made to push against a wall that wasn’t there in between him and Paul. He then leaned forward on the wall, looking to the Rhydon. Then… this was a tricky move while the wall was unformed… Pete shifted his weight so that he supported himself with one hand on the imaginary wall while he rapped on it with his other hand.

“What are you doing?” Paul asked. He moved to touch Pete’s hand. However, enough of the audience believed in the wall that it was there to stop him. “Hey, where’d this wall come from?” the Rhydon asked, causing laughter while he hit the imaginary wall with his fist. “What kind of trickery is this?”

“They’re always doing tricks like this,” the Charmander child replied, then tossed the invisible basketball over to her. Patty caught it, made sure to keep balanced on the beach ball, then started bouncing the basketball against the ground.

The Rhydon hit the wall again; he snorted. “Well it’s just an invisible wall. It can’t be all that sturdy. I’ll knock it down like I do any other!” He stepped back, then lowered his head so that his horn was pointed at the wall.

Patty watched in interest. The strength of a Mr. Mime’s wall was tied to how strongly it was believed in and how strong the Mr. Mime was. While they had a still growing audience, was the belief enough to withstand the impact of a Rhydon? They could break down walls of brick easily, if she had heard right.

On the other side of the wall, Pete pushed himself back and stepped away. While his posture seemed nonchalant, even daring Paul to try his luck, Patty could feel that he was mentally bracing himself. A wall made by both of them could take such a hit and remain. Pete was doing his best to believe that a wall made by him alone could also.

The Rhyhorn grunted, then slammed his whole body, horn-first, into the wall. Remarkably, it held, forcing Paul to stumble back instead of burst through. From the look on Paul’s face, it had been close. The wall was heavily cracked now. But as they were still acting, he smiled it off, then walked over, gently touching the wall.

Pure imagination, Patty thought, smiling at her partner. Pete blew her a kiss. They would celebrate tonight at having converted a disbeliever. For now, he turned back and slapped the wall. Then he sneezed as it collapsed, kicking up dust.

…

Emerald entry: A Mr. Mime is a master of pantomime. Its gestures and motions convince watchers that something unseeable actually exists. Once believed, the imaginary object does become real.

Rhydon Platinum entry: Standing on its hind legs freed its forelegs and made it smarter. It is very forgetful, however.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!

He had been born in the desert, but had been captured by a Trainer early on. This gave the Cacnea insight into a myriad forms of weather. At his birthplace, it was always hot by day and cold at night. It could be blindingly sunny or occasionally cloudy, but rains were seldom and usually light. But in joining a Trainer’s journey, he had seen it rain, thunder, fog, hail, snow, and even an odd mixture of all of that. He had seen cold days and hot nights. Still, this heavy downpour was interesting.

She found it to be absolutely fascinating and mind-blowing that it could rain so much at once.

Of course, she was from the desert too, a Maractus that his Trainer had caught only a couple of weeks back. It still made him angry. After all that talk of branching out and trying new Pokemon in the team, his human had to go out and catch another cactus. It was bad enough whenever a new Pokemon was caught. Cacnea was always working hard, training to swing his spiked arms faster and harder so that he could be a better fighter. But when the human caught a new Pokemon, he was always obsessing over the new one, paying attention exclusively to it and using it in battle more than the rest.

After a while, though, the human would get bored and release or trade the new capture, only to get all excited about the next. Somehow, Cacnea managed to stay on the team. He was proud of that, considering it proof that he was valuable. But he was always jealous of the newcomers, especially other Grass types. They stole the affection of his Trainer. It was worse this time because it was another cactus Pokemon. Was he looking to replace Cacnea with Maractus?

She had the human’s attention, as usual. She was out in the heavy rain, dancing in a growing puddle. At this, the human laughed and took pictures. It had been a long while since he had taken pictures of him, Cacnea thought in irritation. Not since his yellow flower had last bloomed. It was a compact bud now, waiting for the right time.

But she always had flowers blooming, large flat purple ones that came off the two branches sticking out the top of her head. If one wilting, she shook it off and had another regrown in a matter of days. It seemed so pretentious, a cactus growing flowers so quickly. He spent an entire year making sure his flower was just right for blooming, while she just made another flat and floppy blossom like that. Yet, he was jealous that she could make them so fast.

And she was quite the dancer, making her own music by using the rain and the hollow rattling of her upper branches. Maractus twirled, sending water droplets flying off her dark green thorns. Leaning down to touch near her feet with her hand, she posed for a moment, then shook herself tightly to rattle louder. The rain caused her green skin to shine in a flattering manner. She was beautiful…

Cacnea frowned. He was jealous of her. She might be taking his spot on the team. Why should he be admiring her? That wouldn’t help. In the next week or two, she might be gone like many of the Trainer’s Pokemon before her. Or he might be gone. What was the use of having two cacti Pokemon on the team?

But seeing her dance, enjoying herself in the rain… she probably had no idea that he disliked her. Or liked her. Cacnea wasn’t quite sure. While he was in the warm rain too in order to soak up water to store, he wasn’t a dancer like her. He was a fighter, aiming to make himself stronger, invaluable to his human.

But she was having such fun it made him wonder what he would do if he were the next one released instead of her.

…

Emerald entry: Cacnea live in deserts with virtually no rainfall. It battles by swinging its thick, spiked arms. Once a year, a yellow flower blooms.

Maractus White entry: Arid regions are their habitat. They move rhythmically, making a sound similar to maracas.

Pokedex OS- Still trying to capture every single Pokemon out there in words: 648/718 Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh complete!